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Missed opportunities for adult training

08-07-2014, 10:20 AM

With all the talk about MB mills at summer camp, why aren't there extensive training being done for the adults who come to summer camp? One would think that these adults could benefit from 3-5 hours a day training for a week. It could be offered at no charge and there'd be no fees for meals or travel.

Trainers? Surely there are a ton of SM/ASM's out there that could put on a 1-2 hour class for the other leaders that show up. When the boys sign up for MB's maybe the adults ought to be signing up to teach 2 classes of their choice and attend a half dozen of the others.

So often we hear SM's whining about not having time to do these training sessions. What are they doing at summer camp except sitting around drinking coffee, or getting in the way of the boys? I refuse to go to the adult COPE, Shooting Sports, waterfront equipment, etc. because it might take away an opportunity for some Scout. If I want to kayak at scout camp, I bring my own kayak.

The camp I was at this year offered outdoor leadership training, but it was kinda like going to Trail to FC training for Tenderfoot scouts. But what about a class to train SM's on new ideas and age old techniques that have worked well for some of the other at camp.

For fun I tried out a new rocket stove I made (at camp, of course), Worked really well burning only grass, leaves and twigs. I can see leaving the Coleman home next year and saving on the price of white gas and propane.

It's really kinda sad that the time at camp is wasted. And then I got thinking about Camporees and other times the boys gather... what are the adults doing at that time? Oh, yeah, running the competitions the boys should to be running.

Interesting. I'm not sure that IOLS training would work well at camp... at least the way it was done when I took it. We had six hours day of PowerPoint and then a weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of camping as a patrol with other attendees while going over the First Class Skills. However, I think that it would be good for teaching more advanced skills like building your own gear , lightweight backpacking gear selection, advanced cooking (foil pack, open fire, Dutch oven and freezer bag cooking), map and compass / orienteering, WFA, survival skills, knives (use, sharpening, etc.), advanced knots, fire starting (LNT fires, one match fires, wood selection, different types of tinder, making fire sticks, etc.). The adults can then work with their boy leaders to teach those skills to their troop.

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Camp Geronimo in Arizona offers adult training classes Tuesday through Friday mornings during merit badge classes. The program directors taught the classes. They offer all of the online classes, plus a lifesaving and canoeing class. The best part of the classes were that not one projector was used. The classes were taught with a roundtable format.

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Exactly...You have a captive audience for the week/weekend, Train them guys. This year our camp offered most of the training you can get on the internet plus chain saw certification. We've been saying for years that those should be offered at camporees. The SM that needs to bird dog their guys, needs to evaluate their way of doing things.

PS...Post the instructions for your rocket stove Stosh

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There are a number of instructions for making rocket stoves from 12" cement block to tin cans and 55 gallon drums. I did the #10 can with 2 soup cans. All kinds of plans for a ton of different applications are on the internet. Just look up rocket stove.

Stosh

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There are a number of instructions for making rocket stoves from 12" cement block to tin cans and 55 gallon drums. I did the #10 can with 2 soup cans. All kinds of plans for a ton of different applications are on the internet. Just look up rocket stove.

Stosh

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There are a number of instructions for making rocket stoves from 12" cement block to tin cans and 55 gallon drums. I did the #10 can with 2 soup cans. All kinds of plans for a ton of different applications are on the internet. Just look up rocket stove.

Stosh

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There are a number of instructions for making rocket stoves from 12" cement block to tin cans and 55 gallon drums. I did the #10 can with 2 soup cans. All kinds of plans for a ton of different applications are on the internet. Just look up rocket stove.

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The really stupid thing about it all is the site kept telling me that I was not authorized to do that, then it gave me errors and said I couldn't post because I had tried to earlier and a bunch of other stupid messages. It was kinda like it was egging me on and I bought it hook, line and sinker. Finally I cancelled out of the whole thing and was giving up and then it posted it 4 times. I love the last line of the 4th post. "I don't know if this attachment thingy is working." Well, it was and now I know.

Stosh

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One camp I worked at had a dedicated staffer to do SM Specific and IOLS. Depending upon the quality of the instructor, good or bad. One guy did and excellent job, the guy the next year was a joke. Friend of mine needed IOLS to be 'trained" and it was all lecture and no work. Lucky for my friend, he didn't really need to learn IOLS skills. If you've been to Philmont and don't know your T-2-1 skills, something is wrong with ya.

Camp I went to did Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat Training multiple times during the week. Also did the Aquatics Supervision courses too.

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There you go. The syllabus can be good, but it ultimately depends on the instructor: his/her experience and knowledge and ability to transfer that to the newbies.

Our summer camp had an IOLS week long course, in sections, folks could take any and all . I did not take it, but the reports were good. I helped out at the "Trail to First Class " classes. (they lost about a third of their Scout staff thru illness, it seems).